Inside the Writer's Room
by RaspberryKiller
Summary: A little bit about what goes on while the documentary crew is putting together each episode of the show.
1. Chapter 1: The Pilot

The Office: An American Workplace

Jeffrey sat at his desk, filling out some paperwork. He desperately wished he had something to film. The days of not having anything to do for his job were getting horribly boring. He looked up as the door to his office opened and Nina came in, carrying a cup and a bag.

"Here," she said, handing him the cup full of coffee and the bag which contained a 6-inch tuna sandwich with tomatoes, lettuce and black olives.

"How did you know? You always bring me exactly what I want." Jeffrey took a bite of the sandwich.

"It's part of my job," said Nina modestly.

"I don't think it is. I have the job description right here…" he pulled out a file and began to rifle through the pages. "It actually says-" Jeffrey began but he was interrupted by the phone on his desk. _RRIINNGG!!!! RRIINNGG!!!!! _Jeffrey dropped the file onto the carpet, not caring when the papers flew out and scattered all over the floor. Jeffrey lunged for the phone and smacked it to his ear.

"This is Jeffrey, head of documentary crews for hire, how may I help you?"

"This is Jan Levinson-Gould. I would like to hire a documentary crew." Jeffrey turned to Nina and covered the mouthpiece of the phone.

"THEY WANT US!!!! They want a documentary crew!" Nina clapped her hand to her mouth and ran out of the room. Jeffrey turned back to the phone.

"Sure. We would love to help you out. I just need some basic information from you and we can begin filming as soon as possible. We need some information on location and purpose of the documentary…"

* * *

"Okay, do we have all of the footage for our first episode of The Office: An American Workplace?" asked Jeffrey. "We have talking heads, introduction to all the characters, Nina did you follow the background plot about this branch?" Nina nodded. "Good, good. All right, I think we're done here, so I will edit this together and it should air on Thursday. James, did you inform Mrs. Levinson-Gould of the air time and date?" James smacked his forehead.

"Shoot, I forgot." He scribbled a message on his hand.

"Get on that James. It's been a while since we had anywhere to film and I don't want to blow this. It's thanks to Mrs. Levinson-Gould that we're here and we don't want to disappoint her." James nodded his head quickly. "All right. This meeting is dismissed." The cameramen filed out of the room, but Nina hung back to talk to Jeffrey.

"What's up Nina?" asked Jeffrey, picking up his briefcase and straightening his tie.

"We received a message from Jan," she began, handing him his afternoon cup of coffee. "She wanted one of the people who work on the show to view the first episode with her, and I thought that you should so that." Jeffrey took a sip of his coffee.

"Well, I was going to recommend you for the job."

"I just thought that because you're the executive producer and she knows you and you are the head of the company I thought she might want- I mean I can do it if you want I just thought that…" Nina trailed off. Jeffrey set down his coffee and rested his hand on her shoulder.

"Relax Nina. I'll do it. I'd love to do it." He grabbed his coffee and the newspaper that was lying on the table. "I'm going to go edit this. See you tomorrow Nina." Jeffrey walked through the open door and out to his car.

* * *

Jeffrey stood outside the door of Jan's house. He straightened his tie just to make sure he looked professional enough and then knocked on the door. A thin woman just a bit shorter than Jeffrey opened the door. She had blonde hair that curled out at her shoulders. She was wearing dark trousers and a pink silk shirt, her outfit just slightly more casual than the one she had worn in the first episode.

"Come in. Thank you so much for coming. The episode is just about to start I believe, so let's head over to the living room." Jeffrey and Jan sat down on the couch and Jan clicked on the tv. "What channel is it?"

"NBC. Channel 8." Jan pressed the number on the remote and they were just in time to see the show begin.

"This first episode is really about introducing everyone on the show," Jeffrey told Jan as the theme song played. "We followed Michael and checked on him like you wanted, but we also introduced Jim Halpert, Pam Beesly, Dwight Schrute and the new temp Ryan Howard who started the day we filmed." Jan nodded and the two watched the episode in silence.

"What did you think?" asked Jeffrey when the episode was over.

"It was perfect for what I wanted. Thank you so much. This was really great."

"You're welcome. Thank you for choosing us. Do you need me to stop by again next week?" asked Jeffrey as he pulled on his long trench coat.

"No thank you, but thank you so much for coming by this week," she said with a smile.

"My pleasure," said Jeffrey. "The next episode will be on next week at the same time. We're thinking of calling it just The Office and taking of the American Workplace part."

"You're the creative ones," said Jan with a laugh. "Do what you want."

"Okay," said Jeffrey, also laughing. "Goodbye Jan." The two of them shook hands and then Jeffrey walked out of her house and got into his house. During his drive home he couldn't help singing to himself. They had done it. They had gotten a new client, and they were going to keep this, no matter what they had to do. Life was good again.


	2. Chapter 2: Booze Cruise

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended._

_Hope you guys like the next chapter of my fic! This chapter doesn't have as much of the actual editing but it does go along with the story. It's as though the documentary was going to be cancelled like it was in season 2. Please read and review or tell me if I have the whole 'film being edited into episode' thing wrong. Thanks to JamFan for the first comment and the encouragement. _

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Booze Cruise

Jan rapped on the door to David Wallace's office.

"Come in!" he called, turning away from the window. "Ah, you're here. Have a seat." Jan sat down in the seat across the desk and crossed her legs.

"Remember about a year ago when I told you you needed to spend more time in the Scranton branch?" asked David. Jan nodded. She could remember the day as clearly as though it was yesterday. "Well, you found a creative solution to the problem. Hiring a documentary crew was a great idea to see everyone in real life and not just when they're in front of you. However, we now have a problem."

"What's the problem?" asked Jan nervously.

"I have watched the past few episodes of the documentary, and I think having the documentary crew there isn't enough. I think you need to go into that office. Unless the documentary crew can find a way to figure out what Michael's problem really is, you're going to have to fire them and I'm going to have to fire you."

"What do you mean buy 'figure out what his problem really is'?" asked Jan.

"Well, right now we're seeing Michael make a mess of his job, but we need to know why so we can help him or fire him. Unless your documentary crew can get a few shots of him outside the office, it's not going to serve our purpose."

"Mr. Wallace, I don't understand how having a person there would help more than the crew…It doesn't make sense."

"Maybe not Jan. But we may need to get someone who can relate to Michael and understand his problem unless you step it up." Jan sat for a moment in stunned silence.

"Oh-okay," she stammered. "I'll-I'll step it up. I will." Jan turned away and rushed out of his office.

Jan sat at her desk with her head in her hands, wondering what she could possibly do. David wanted to see Michael outside the office. He wanted Michael to…Jan's eyes opened wide as she realized there just might be a way to follow Michael outside the office. Jan grabbed the phone and stabbed the buttons as fast as she could.

"Yelo," said Michael as he picked up the phone.

"Hello Michael. This is Jan Levinson-Gould. Since your branch has been doing well this quarter-" Jan could practically feel her nose growing "-you can have a leadership training seminar for your branch."

"Wow!" exclaimed Michael.

"You can go out of the office and talk about leadership. We're sending Brenda from corporate to the training and if you do a good job, we'll use your training for the entire company." Smiling to herself, Jan hung up before Michael could say another word.

Jeffrey sat at his desk editing footage together when his phone rang.

"This is Jeffrey, head of documentary crews for hire, how may I help you? Oh, hi Jan. What do you need?" He paused as Jan spoke into the phone. "Uh-huh. Really? Canceled? Unless we step it up?" There was another pause. "You want us to follow Michael and his leadership training. Or else we will be canceled. Yes, we can do that. Alright. Bye Jan." Jeffrey hung up the phone and sat in still silence. _I have to step it up_, thought Jeffrey. _Step it up._ He got up from his desk and out into the main office.

"Everyone, listen up. Jan needs us to film Michael's leadership event on Friday and if we don't we're out of work again. I don't care if you don't usually work on Friday. I need every one of you on this, are we clear?" The employees, just as horrified as Jeffrey, nodded sharply.

"We can do this!" said James. "We're going to make it work." Jeffrey smiled.

"That's the spirit." He turned and strode back into his office with renewed confidence.

* * *

Jeffrey looked through the footage. If this wasn't stepping it up, nothing was. They had every moment of the night, and Jeffrey was positive this was what Jan wanted. He stuck a talking head between two scenes and hit playback.

"This is perfect," he said to himself. And it was.

* * *

"Wow Jan. You really took your job seriously. This was great. Thank you. Tell the crew they did a great job. You're back on solid ground." Jan couldn't help grinning. She had saved her job once again.

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_Hope you guys liked the chapter!_


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